I blew off Christmas dinner yesterday.
I had planned to bake a yummy spiral ham, make some potatoes, tiny little green beans, and some bread. Nothing fancy, but worth the effort just to have the leftovers on hand. But I couldn't muster the energy to do it. I hit the wall on Christmas morning, around 11 a.m.
Christmas Eve Day was great. I had to work that day, and wanting to be here at home, and not there at work, I went in at some ridiculous hour, like 5 a.m. just so I could get things done and get home. Which I did, around 11 a.m., after stopping at Toys R Us one more time, Michael's one more time, and Border's, just one more time.
Then I came home and had to kick everyone's ass about the condition of the house, which I specifically asked to be at least marginally tidy when I got home, so we could attend directly to the day's festivities without having to do housework first. P and K got the point and scurried around frantically doing what they should have been doing before I got home. It wasn't like I asked them to scrub toilets or anything. Jeesh. Just pick up the toys scattered all over the living room, and maybe empty the dishwasher. And maybe have everyone actually dressed and their hair at least brushed. But no. Everyone still in jammies, the living room a disaster area, dishwasher full of clean dishes, dirty dishes piled on the counters.
Got that little situation taken care of in a hurry. P was properly chagrained. He did apologize to me later. No big deal. I got over it quickly, and we moved on to the day's activities.
Since B came along, establishing holiday traditions has been of major importance to us. And it's not like one day we sat down and said to ourselves, hey, it's time to establish some family traditions. No, it has been more subtle than that. Unspoken importance, but there nonetheless. So for the past few years (this is her 3rd Christmas) we have made a point of doing the same things, making a big deal out of each little thing, thus turning them into Family Traditions we can look forward to year after year.
Anyway, so after lunch we got busy making Christmas cookies. Actually, I made the cookies, B took a nap, and K and P worked on K's gift for her mother. Once the cookies were done and cooling, I made scones, combined them with a jar of fancy raspberry jelly and put together a gift pack for K's mom, so she wouldn't have to worry about Christmas morning breakfast. Then B woke up, and we all sat down at the table to decorate them. This is tradition #1. The kids love this, and P and I do, too.
After the cookies were all decorated, it was time to make dinner. The kids were bouncing off the walls by this time and only the promise of King Crab legs could persuade them to be patient and wait for the rest of the events to unfold. Ah, they were so good. The crab legs, I mean. The kids were a bit excited.
Having crab (in some fashion) for Christmas Eve dinner is tradition #2.
After dinner, P and I cleaned up the dishes, K cleaned up B, and then we all went outside so the girls could sprinkle their Magic Reindeer Food on the lawn. It was pouring down rain, so it was quick. Tradition #3.
Then we lit all the Christmas candles, turned down the lights a bit, and gathered around P in the living room to listen to him read The Night Before Christmas to us. I just love this one. Tradition #4.
Well, the end of the reading signaled the time for stockings to be opened. Earlier in the day, we brought out K's presents, since she wouldn't be here on Christmas morning. We told B that Santa Claus stopped by our house while she was napping, just to drop off K's presents, and that he would be back that night to bring hers. Well, we knew she wouldn't understand that too well, so we let her have her stocking, and also the gifts K's family had sent for her, so she wouldn't feel left out while K was opening her presents. It worked out well.
Much grabbing and tearing of paper and squealing and packaging opening later, the living room looked a lot like it did when I arrived home from work. After confiscating all the candy so B wouldn't end up in a sugar induced coma, we said our goodnight's to K and P took her home.
I'll conclude our Christmas Eve story here. Christmas morning came fast and early, which I'll have to write about later. I do want to get it all down, as it turned out great, but this is long enough for now.
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